Nutcracker.



" NUTCRACKER.

APPLICATION FILED IUNE 29. 1914.

1,148,893, l Patented Aug. 3,1915.

I 9 l a o 'ERNEST D. EKSTIELDT, 0F EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.

NUTCBLACKER.

Lild.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed J' une 29, 1914. Serial No. 847,816.

To all whom it may concern: p

Be it known that I, ERNEST D. EKSTEDT, a citizen of the United States, .residing at the city of East St. Louis, in the county of St.

Clair and State'of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nutcrackers, of which the following is specification.

This invention relates to improvements in nut-crackers and refers particularlyto that class of nut-crackers having a stationary j aw and a movable jaw between which two jaws an inserted nut may be cracked.

It has for its objectV to provide a cheap, strong, powerful, and easily operated device of its class simple of construction and composed of very few parts, and among other advantages, the device of this invention has the advantage that it is readily adinstable to the size of any nut, can be quickly operated upon succeeding nuts, exerts great power gradually applied, is very durable, and is not easily worked loose in operation from the support to which it may be fastened.

ln the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which like num bers of reference denote like parts wherever they occur, Figure l is a side view of the nut cracker with part of the handle of the operating lever broken off; Fig. 2 is a sectional view from above on the line 2-2, Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatical view of the lever and associated parts with the housing thereof removed. I

The base comprises preferably in one piece the upright stationary jaw-piece 1 which is provided with recess 2 or the like adapted to receive an end or the curvature of a nut to be cracked, a horizontal -shaped trackmember 3, of any desired length, a downward extending piece l from the lower portion of which extends horizontally substantially parallel with and in the same direction as the track-member 3 but of less length than said track-member, and an arrn 5 the end of which arm 5 is provided with a screw device 6 or the likei` of any suitable construction serviceable as a means for fastening the base of the nut-cracker to a table 7 piece 1 there is provided, preferably asl an integral part of said base, a rackS extending in length along the upper surface of said track-piece 3 for any desireddistance toward the stationary jaw-piece 1, the teeth of said track having a substantially vertical face of each tooth turned toward the recess 2 of said stationary jaw-piece 1. A movable awpiece 9 is slidablysupportedv upon the trackmember 3 the flanges 10 or a pair of such flanges slidably supporting said movable jaw-piece 9 within a suitably shaped guiding vgroove or grooves so formed at the base of the jaw-piece 9 that said jaw-piece is adapted to slide longitudinal lthe track-member 3 but is prevented from being lifted od upwardly from said track-member by reason of a )Patented Aug.. 3, 1915. f

bulged portion 11 (including said guiding y groove) on the jaw-piece 9 embracing the iangeslO of the track-member 3. A cotter pin 12 or the like inserted through a suitable hole near the end of the track-member 3 is provided to prevent the jaw-piece 9 and its associated parts (hereinafter described) from sliding longitudinally oil" from the track-member 3 when the nut-cracker is in use. The jaw-piece 9 bearing the cylindrical extension 13 on the part of said jaw-piece 9 facing the recess 2 in the stationary jawpiece l forms the movable jaw-,piece of the nut-cracker of this invention, said cylindrical extension 13 being provided with a recess 11 opposite and similar to the recess 2, the said recesses 14 and 2 being adapted to receive opposite ends or opposite bulging portions of a nut placed between the said stationary and said movable jaw-pieces.

The movable jaw-piece 9 is operated by means of a lever 15 being preferably con'- structed with an inward curve 16 toward the adjacent side of the jaw-piece 9 and terminating in a hub 17 which hub 17 is revolubly seated in a circular opening in the side of the movable jaw-piece 9. Adjacent to said hub 17 is an eccentric 13 which eccentric pivotally supports the pawl 19. Adjacent to said eccentric 18 a reduced extension 20 of the hub 17 is provided, which is revolubly seated in a circular bearing located in the side of the movable jaw-piece 9 opposite that at which hub ll' is seated. rfhe reduced hubertension 20 terminates Hush with 'the outside of the movable jaw-piece 9, and the lever l5 and its associated parts dcscriled are held in place by means a screw-head the like, screw of ibove which is screwed into the screw-hole 22 provided in the reduced hub-extension 20, the screw-head 21 being larger in circumference than the circumference of the hub-extension 20.

yThe pawl 19 bears a shoulder 23 or a pair of such shoulders so constructed that when by operation of the lever 15 the hub 17 and the hub-extension 20 are revolved within their respective bearings so that the eccentric 18 borne between said hub and said hubextension is in the position illustrated in Fig. 1, the pawl 19 'is pulled towardvthe -recess 14 of the movable jaw-piece 9 by the centric intermediate therebetween, and the associated parts are brought in the position shown in Fig. 3, the pawl' 19 1s permitted to engage the teeth of the rack, whereupon by further rocking the vlever 15 counter-clockwise the pawl cooperating on its pivotal `bearing with the eccentric 18 the movable jaw-piece 9 is advanced up the incline of the track-member 3 toward the stationary jaw-piece 1. It willkbe observed that the movable jaw-piece 9 serves, also, as a housing for the eccentric 18 and its associate parts.

Asbest seen in Fig. 1, the track-member 3 is preferably so constructed that the rackbearing surface' adjacent to the-flange 10 thereon inclines slightly from the stationary .jaw-piece 1 to theend where the cotter-pin 12 is located, the highest point in said incline being at the junction of said trackmember 3 with said stationary jaw-piece 1 and the lowest point in said incline being at the end where said cotter-pin 12 is located. This form of construction serves the purpose of strengthening' the casting at the part constituting the stationary jaw-piece 1- which, in operation, is subject to great strainand, also, serves the purpose of facilitating the movement of the movable j aw-piece 9 in slid-- ing it away from thel stationary jaw-piece 1 on the track-member 3 along the downward grade of the incline.

In operating the nut-cracker when fas; tened upon a support 7 as shown in Fig. v1, the lever 15 is pulled forward to the position shown in Fig. 1, the space between the stationary jaw-piece 1 and the movable jawpiece 9 adjusted to the size of the nut to be cracked b v sliding the movable jaw-piece 9 forward or backward upon the trackimpelling member,

-recesses 2 and 141, the handle of the lever 15 is swung upward and away from the stationary jaw-piece 1 causing the pawl 19 to engage a tooth o f the rack 8 so that on continuing to push the lever in the direction away from `the stationary jaw-piece 1, the movable jaw-piece 9 moves toward the stationary jaw-piece 1, whereby the nut is cracked. vThe cracked nut is then readily released by reversing the lever 15, whereupon another nut may quickly be inserted in position and cracked as hereinabove described. Y

Various changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the nature and spirit of this invention.

I claim:

1. A nut cracker comprising a fixed nut seat member, a movable nut seat member having a cam face, an operating handle journaled on the said movable member, an impelling member loosely and eccentrically carried by said handle, and an abutment for the impelling member, whereby the movable seat member is moved to coperate with the fixed seat member when the handle is moved in one direction, and the impely,ling member is lifted from engagement with its abutment by said cam face when the handle is moved in the opposite direction.

2. A nut cracker comprising a'fixed and a movable nut seat member, a cam face carried by the movable seat member, an operating handle journaled on said movable member, an eccentric carried by said handle,

an impelling member loosely journaled on said eccentric, and an abutment for said whereby when the handle is moved in one direction the movable seat member is moved in the direction of the fixed member 4and when moved in the opposite direction the pawl is moved by said cam face out of engagement with the said abutment.

3. A nut cracker comprising a fixed nut seat member, a movable nut seat member having an inclined cam face, a loosely journaled pawl, an abutment for said pawl, and means when moved in one direction to 'move the pawl bodily to throw it into engagement with said abutment to impel the movable member and when moved in the opposite direction to move the pawl into engagement with said cam surface wherebyr it is moved out of engagement with the said abutment.

4. In a nut cracker, the combination with a base having a nut seat and a rack on said journaled in said frame, a journal carried by said journal but eccentric therewith, a pawl loosely journaled on Said eccentric journal, and a projection on the free end portion 'of said pawl constructed to cooperate With the inclined bearing face of the frame to raise the pawl out of engagement with the said rack. A

5. In a nut cracker, the combination, with a base having a nut seat and a rack on said base, of a frame slidably mounted on said base and provided with a nut seat coperating with the nut seat on the base, a plurality of journal bearings formed in said frame, an operating lever having a plurality of journals at one end concentric to each other and journaled in the, said bearings in said frame, an eccentric carried by said handle, and a pawl loosely mounted on said eccentric and adapted to coperate with the said rack to move the nut seats toward each other.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afl'lx my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST D. EKSTEDT. Witnesses:

GEORGE G. ANDERSON, WALTER C. GUELS. 

